


the piano knows something i don't know

by Hieiandshino



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Awkward Romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Classical Music, Declarations Of Love, Dorks in Love, Eventual Romance, Falling In Love, Fluff and Humor, Hibari is slow, Idiots in Love, Kinda, Love Confessions, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mutual Pining, Non-Graphic Violence, everyone is smarter than them, gokudera seduces hibari with music without noticing, hibari is secuded by gokudera with music without noticing, like super slow, weird love confessions and declarations of love but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-08-23 21:59:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16627196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hieiandshino/pseuds/Hieiandshino
Summary: He doesn't remember his name when they first meet. He is herbivore and therefore there is no need to be formally addressed. He is herbivore and therefore he is nothing.Then, there is the piano.In which Kyouya is clueless and everyone else knows where this sudden interest in Gokudera is headed.





	the piano knows something i don't know

**Author's Note:**

> _Katekyo Hitman Reborn!_ does not belong to me.
> 
> This is an unrevised work, so I'm sorry for any mistakes, since English is not my first language.
> 
> Title comes from "The piano knows something I don't know", by Panic! at the Disco.

I.

He doesn't remember his name when they first meet. He is herbivore and therefore there is no need to be formally addressed. He is herbivore and therefore he is nothing.

Then, there is the piano.

Nobody uses the piano in the music room. There is no student that can play it and the teachers do tend to use other instruments to teach music. The piano is difficult to master, Kyouya knows that much.

The herbivore plays it as if he has been doing it all his life and finally there is something fascinating in him. A usefulness that didn’t exist until the music played softly after school time and when Kyouya went to check, he found the silver haired boy playing it very slowly, eyes closed, serenity in his movements.

.

II.

Though Sasagawa Ryohei likes to say they are friends; they are not. Kyouya does not have such a frailty relationship with someone and he will not start with this boy _now_. Though he is strong, just like Yamamoto Takeshi, so he deserves some respect.

He goes to him because he has seen him around the herbivore that plays the piano. But Sasagawa is not so intelligent and does not know who he is talking about. Kyouya is forced to give a detailed physical description that makes Sasagawa stare at him for a few seconds.

“What?” Kyouya asks, suddenly irritated.

“Nothing, it’s just… That’s a very detailed description.”

Kyouya just stares at him. “You asked for one.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect one so… Um, his name is Gokudera Hayato.”

 _Oh_. That name is familiar, after all. Kyouya turns to leave, but it bothers him how puzzled Sasagawa looks at him, as if he is missing something.

.

III.

“I heard you’ve been asking about me.” Gokudera Hayato says when they meet in the hallway of the second floor and Kyouya decides to just ignore him.

That makes him stop. Kyouya’s hands go immediately to his tonfas, suddenly angry at the fact Sasagawa didn’t keep that a secret. Not that it needed to be, but—

“And?” Kyouya asks, his voice showing he already is in his limit and he can see how the other students scatter away from them, sensing his rage. Gokudera Hayato doesn’t. He keeps himself in the same place, in front of Kyouya, head cocked to one side, as if confused.

“And you don’t need to ask around. If you’ve got something to ask me, you can do it directly. I’ve got nothing to hide.”

It’s Kyouya’s time to cock his head to one side, suddenly interested. “That sounds like an invitation.”

Someone chokes. Sounds like Sawada. Gokudera Hayato, instead, only takes a step back, sputtering madness, face red from embarrassment.

When Kyouya passes by him, his covered arm purposefully touches Gokudera Hayato’s naked one. He is so warm. He likes it.

.

IV.

“Gokudera, huh?” The baby says, sitting underneath a tree, his round face hiding all the secrets. Kyouya just stares at the baby, face blank, not understanding what was going on.

“What happened to him?” Is what Kyouya asks, because if he is mentioned, then something must have happened. Not that Kyouya cares. He doesn’t. He is just curious — just like he was curious about his name.

“Why do you think something happened to him?”

“Why would you suddenly bring him up?”

The baby stares at Kyouya. Kyouya stares at the baby.

“Huh.” The baby says and leaves.

For the first time, Kyouya feels like he has no idea what is going on in his school.

.

V.

Gokudera Hayato is playing again. Kyouya listens outside of the classroom as he plays the piano after school hours, and imagines what kind of dance his fingers are doing — frantic because of the pace of music— to achieve those sounds. He wants to see, but he knows that he will stop the moment someone else enter the room and will stay away from the piano for a long time. And that would be a shame, wouldn’t it?

Everyone likes good music. Kyouya in particular. For good music has harmony and order, two things he enjoys despite everything. The fact these things are achieved in school ground only make it better: the hallways and classrooms are filled with the melody, and thus it seems to give meaning to Kyouya’s job in there.

Even if it break the rules.

Kyouya wonders if he can play the hymn in the piano.

.

VI.

Kusakabe looks concerned when he enters accompanied by Gokudera Hayato, who is just confused — he tries not to show, but it’s obvious —, and this concern seems to grow as he is asked to leave.

“Yeah?” Gokudera Hayato asks.

“The piano—” He stiffens and Kyouya fills this for later “What else do you play?”

Kyouya is answered with a dynamite thrown right on his face, that he evades with certain ease before he jumps on the boy. He ought to kill him, unfortunately, because of the explosion that soon follows behind them. He lands over Gokudera Hayato, this creature that did not deserve his time, though it was a nice exercise ( _he has gotten faster, Kyouya notices that and he is oddly pleased to know that_ ), and when they finally fall on the ground, Kyouya’s face is inches from the other.

He is indeed very warm and his eyes are very green. He doesn’t blink when the tonfa falls right next to him, so strong it damages the floor. A fragment of the cement cuts his cheek, and yet he doesn’t say anything, just stares right at Kyouya.

That’s how they are found by a few teachers, and Kusakabe, and Dino Cavallone, and half of his stupid herbivore friends.

.

VII.

“I have to say… I’m surprised.” Cavallone says, casually, as he waits to be patched by one of his minions. “Of all the people in the world, Gokudera Hayato.”

“What does that mean?”

Cavallone shrugs, as if saying Kyouya should know.

Kyouya doesn’t. “What?”

“You two are very different.”

“Do not compare us.”

“I’m not! It’s what they say, opposites attract.”

Kyouya frowns.

.

VIII.

Dino Cavallone leaves their training session with this: Kyouya is interested in Gokudera Hayato because he plays the piano. A few days later, said Gokudera Hayato appears right in front of him and says: “Why did you ask me that?”

Kyouya doesn’t frown. “You asked me to do that.”

Gokudera Hayato is confused for about three seconds. Then he blushes and says: “Oh. Yeah. That. I thought you forgot.”

“Why would I?”

He stammers.

.

IX.

Yamamoto Takeshi is an annoying human being that smiles too much for someone who is so smart. Kyouya doesn’t want to respect him, but he does. There is so much potential behind those stupid expressions, and he sacrifices it for unimportant things.

“So… You and Gokudera.”

Kyouya wants to correct him on his poor grammar, since the correct would be ‘Gokudera and you’, but he ignores that in favor of what the poorly spoken phrase _means_. “What of it?”

He laughs a little, delighted. “Nothing! I was just surprised. You guys don’t really match.”

He tilts his head to one side slightly, like a puppy that did not understand what is happening. This conversation, like so many others, make no sense. Nothing ever makes sense these days, even more when Gokudera Hayato is the subject.

“But I guess that’s the fun, right?”

.

X.

Gokudera Hayato finally understands what is going on when he opens the door from the music room and sees Kyouya sitting next to it, on the floor. He blushes immediately, his face going a deep shade of red that seems to cover his whole body. For a second, he wonders if he is even warmer than normal, and then wonders for another second why did he think of that.

“What the hell?” Is all Gokudera Hayato says.

“What else can you play?” Kyouya asks.

He stammers as he answers, suddenly very sincere on the variety of things.

.

XI.

Kusakabe doesn’t know what to say, really. Kyouya knows this because he can’t stop looking at him from time to time, opening and closing his mouth. It’s annoying, something he almost never uses as descriptive of his second-in-command.

Perhaps it truly is odd that Kyouya is suddenly so interested in Gokudera Hayato — what else could it be? Before the soft music he heard outside the music room, nothing like this happened.

Kyouya does not regret it.

.

XII.

Gokudera Hayato is reading a book in his classroom, that’s what the intel is about. Kyouya barges in, notices the chatter die down and marches to him, only to give him a small folder.

“What—”

“I expect you to perfect it by Monday. You may use school grounds on the weekend.”

“What?!”

“Monday, Gokudera Hayato.”

.

XIII.

It’s Monday and everyone stares at Kyouya. How annoying, because before people used to look down when he went through his day — a show of dominance. Gokudera Hayato is messing with the status quo of this school, in ways he simply shouldn’t.

But as long as he plays the school and city anthem, it’s fine. It’ll end after this, surely.

After school, when there is only some clubs practicing, he finds Gokudera Hayato waiting for him outside his office, blushing. He is not smoking and Kyouya likes this.

It comes with a surprise the fact he actually _likes this_. _It just means I am doing my best to teach delinquents the rules of this school_ , he downplays, though he is not sure it will work. Just like he does not know it will work if he listens to Gokudera Hayato play a masterpiece.

When they reach the music room, side by side, Kyouya does not enter when Gokudera Hayato does and that makes him pause. “You’re not going to enter?”

Kyouya didn’t think of that. “Why should I?”

Gokudera Hayato grits his teeth. “Why did I learn to play the anthem if you won’t listen to it properly?” He sounds sincere and mad about something. He blushes harder when he admits it and suddenly Kyouya understands why he is so angry with himself. Sincerity is not for the weak.

“Alright.”

.

XIV.

Listening to Gokudera Hayato play the piano and seeing as he does, the movement, the calm on his eyes, the way his hair falls on his face as he moves, does nothing to easy whatever it is this— this curiosity.

Kyouya plays the scene again and again on his mind and as it fades away, day by day, he regrets to not have recorded it. Now he will forget and all this meant nothing.

.

XV.

There is a woman in his office with pink hair and a soft smile. She has something in her hands that smell foul.

“So you are him.”

Kyouya lifts an eyebrow. “Who?”

She smiles brightly. “The boy that means so much to Hayato. The one he learned to play a music on the piano to.”

“What if I am?” Kyouya answers, but understands only part of what she is saying. Mean so much to Gokudera Hayato? They barely spoke.

They only share music and, now, a debt Kyouya has already paid.

“I’d like to know you and to offer—”

Gokudera Hayato barges in, runs inside the room and gets between the woman and Kyouya. He stumbles and turns an ugly shade of green as he weakly tells her to back off. He seems to be unwell.

“Don’t you dare do this— Bianchi, leave him alone!”

“But, Hayato—”

“No, he’s fine, he doesn’t need to die like this. _Nobody_ needs to die like this.”

He says something else, in Italian, and she answers it. Kyouya stares at Gokudera Hayato’s back, as he trembles and almost falls on the floor, his voice changing by the minute — one moment he is barely whispering, nauseated, the next he is talking as loud as he can, trying to overcome whatever sickness he is having.

The woman leaves, Gokudera Hayato collapses right after.

Kyouya understands nothing.

.

XVI.

Much later, it’s Sawada Tsunayoshi who comes in, thanking him for doing his job. Kyouya dismisses him quickly, not interested. Instead, he asks: “What about Gokudera Hayato? What does he have?”

“What?”

“He was sick, today. Is it infectious?”

Sawada Tsunayoshi takes some time to understand what it means and then says: “Oh, because of Bianchi! No, don’t worry, it’s just— A thing. A thing he has when he’s near her. She kind of poisons people. And, well— Uh, but that was the first time I saw Gokudera stand up to her for so long, before he collapsed. Normally it’s instantaneous.”

And then, he says: “He must _really_ like you.”

.

XVII.

Everything makes sense now and Kyouya feels absurdly _stupid_ for not noticing.

.

XVIII.

He is back at the piano, playing the Nanimori Anthem as if he had been doing this all the time.

If he did, things would be much easier to understand.

“You like me.” Kyouya says when it’s over.

Gokudera Hayato blushes, and looks at the piano’s keys. He accidentally plays one and its melody echoes on the music room, startling them both from the tension they created by just one sentence.

“I don’t like to be told what to do. Most of the time by assholes like _you_.”

It sounds like an accusation.

Kyouya hears a confession.

He kisses Gokudera Hayato, and only calls him by his first name.

.

XIX.

He buys a piano for his own home. It’s long, black, perfect. A classic. His keys are not made of marble, because he knows where it comes from and refuses to give money to animal cruelty.

Hayato blushes hard when he sees it, the first time he comes over. A few months later, he loses his virginity right on it, arching his back and moaning Kyouya’s name, his symphony a mess, but so beautiful it almost matches the perfectness of the Nanimori Anthem.

Kyouya knows himself well enough to know what this comparison _means_.

.

XX.

Years later, Hayato plays the piano in Italy, and only takes requests from one person — not his Tenth.

Kyouya knows him well enough to know what _that_ means.

**Author's Note:**

> So I realized I basically wrote one 1859 story of each major genre. We have angst, we have humor, we have romance, we have PWP (I'll post this one soon, I'll just check it again). I feel accomplished and ready to write more~
> 
> Anyway, I love the idea of Gokudera doing one thing for his lover that he wouldn't do not even for Tsuna, because it means _so much_.
> 
> I always want to write a lot here, but never know what to say when I start, sorry.


End file.
